Book review

If you’re feeling shut off from the workforce, meaningful career advancement, or the ability to find a tolerable, livable-wage job and you feel you are to blame for it, you might be a millennial. This book does a good job of explaining why. (Spoiler alert: It’s actually not your fault.)

Arts

Dope. Magical. Brilliant. These are just a few of the numerous words Leilani Lewis used to describe “Everyday Black,” the newest exhibition at Northwest African-American Museum (NAAM). Intimate portraits captured by Seattle photographers Jessica Rycheal and Zorn B. Taylor merge into the artistic representation of the phrase, “Black is beautiful.” With contemplative to beaming faces, “Everyday Black” reveres the spectrum of Blackness, which includes those who identify as mixed race.

News

The new members of the Burien City Council promised their supporters a better Burien, and they are starting with the repeal of a controversial ordinance that allows police officers to bar people from parks and other public property.

The Burien City Council repealed the ordinance on Feb. 5. Few were surprised by the decision; the majority of the now-left-leaning council did not support the trespass ordinance. They opposed it not only for its overreach in depriving people of their civil liberties and rights, but also for its vague language that could include myriad behaviors.

Seattle leadership announced Feb. 8 that they will request that the municipal court vacate convictions and dismiss misdemeanor charges for marijuana possession in light of the 2012 law that legalized recreational marijuana use for people over the age of 21.

Property taxes in King County are expected to jump by 17 percent on average, mostly due to a deal worked out by the Washington Legislature to fully fund basic education, according to the King County Assessor’s office.

The compromise will cause property taxes in the Puget Sound to soar as other parts of the state see decreases. The revenue will be used to pay for K–12 education.

Local tax hikes will vary, with some seeing a 9 percent increase while others, like the town of Carnation, will see property taxes jump by over 30 percent.

On its face, voting in Washington is pretty simple. You register — online, by mail or at the DMV — wait for your ballot in the mail and send it back in through the post or one of the drop boxes.

But it still could go a bit smoother in this vote-by-mail state for people whose addresses change regularly — renters and students — or who don’t have addresses at all. All told, an estimated 2 million people in the state who are eligible to vote either do not participate or aren’t registered to do so.

If you’ve gone to a protest, a rally or almost any event meant to boost the public good, you’ve probably seen Carl Nakajima. Nakajima is a diminutive man, usually wearing a cap with a thick black rim and a bulky, Technicolor dream coat, most recently topped with a bright green Real Change vendor vest. He lends his often-quiet support to community causes by doing what any good ally does: show up.

By the time this appears in your vendor’s hands, there will be men hurtling themselves down ice chutes, feet first, flat on their backs, on top of each other on tiny sleds at 90 plus mph. And I’ll bet at least half of you won’t even think there’s anything strange about that. Talk about your slippery slopes.

I see it as one of my purposes in life to flag the strange. Try saying “luge” five times and see if it doesn’t start to sound weird.

I am probably not going to pay much attention to the goings on at the Olympics until my favorite competition gets underway.

In most of our elections — and especially the presidential elections — everyone knows that either the Democrat or the Republican is going to win. Therefore, everyone thinks that our only two choices are to be clubbed on the head by Republicans or stabbed in the back by Democrats. The funny thing about that is that it is indeed true, but it is true only because everyone believes that it is true. Our two-faced duopoly is inevitable only because everyone believes that it is inevitable. If everyone would simply stop believing that it was inevitable, then it would no longer be inevitable.

For a lapsed Catholic, I’ve been leaning pretty hard on Pope Francis lately. Last February. The pontiff weighed in on the border wall. Our challenge, he said, is “not to raise walls but bridges, to not respond to evil with evil, to overcome evil with good.”

One month later, in an interview with Italian street paper Scarp de’ Tenis (Tennis Shoes), he said we should give to homeless people without judgment, simply because we have the privilege to do so.

Vendor profiles

John Birgen has to wait one more year to apply for Social Security retirement, but he wants to make a change sooner.He wants to buy a cheap motorhome to get out of the shelters, drive back to Spokane and try to get his son, who is also homeless, off the streets.

Born in Bremerton and raised in Puyallup, John had a difficult life. His dad worked in the shipyards in Bremerton before moving to Puyallup, where John attended high school.